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Posted on Saturday, May 05, 2012

Cool Water Hot Day

Pauline and Brent arrived Friday evening.
About 2:30 AM, the weather radio sounded an alarm. There were severe thunderstorms on the way to Cumberland County. An hour later the storms reached the farm. Thunder and lightening with driving rain, but not much wind lasted for about a half hour, then just a gentle rain for another hour. When daylight arrived there wasn't any damage that could be seen. We had breakfast and Linda and I took Kyle for a Mule ride with Daisy. Then we rode on the tractor for a few minutes, all at Kyle's request. Oh and a short trip to the 'pop sickle barn' for a treat. It was nearly 10:30 AM when we returned to the house. Pauline and Brent were ready to get outside, so we went back to the pole barn and messed around in there. The temperature was going up and the sky had cleared. Brent mentioned that we should go to the lake and run the boat. Everyone was eager to go, so we began our preparation for the first boat trip of the year. We had to stick on the new TN registration stickers, put the life jackets back in the boat, take the cockpit covers off and put on the road covers, get the pickup truck and hook up the boat trailer, pull it out of the barn and tie down the road cover. Then we headed to the house for coolers and food. Swim suits were next, would we use them or not, no one knew for sure. Finally we were ready, Julie went with Linda and I in the truck pulling the boat, Stacey rode with Kyle, Pauline and Brent. After filling the boat with gas, we drove to the State Park and launched the boat. I changed the routine, I was driving the boat off the trailer while Brent parked the truck. The boat started right away and a few minutes later we were under way. After exiting the dock area, I moved out of the driver's seat and let Stacey take the wheel while I took a few pictures.
  
  
We rode for awhile, letting the battery charge and making sure things were working properly as we enjoyed the view. There were other boats on the lake and some people were on jet skis. There were a few boats with people on tubes and skis. Stacey moved out of the driver's seat and let Brent take the controls before we stopped. Julie and Kyle were ready to swim and were dancing around on the deck at the back of the boat. Brent was the first in the water and said it was chilly. Kyle about fell in and was going in once he saw his Dad in the water. I grabbed his arm and lowered him in the water before he fell in. Kyle said it was cold, but swam over to his Dad. Julie went in next and right to Brent. Then Stacey jumped in. Pauline, Linda and I remained in the boat.
  
After they were out of the water and had dried off, we started the boat and rode around the lake. The lake was 'flat' without much traffic and no wind. The ride was really smooth and the air temperature was nice as we checked out several places. Julie was needing a sandwich so we stopped and had sandwiches for a late lunch. She had wanted to get her float out earlier, so Brent used the extra time to blow it up and then tossed it in the water. Julie was unsure how she had got in it last year, so Brent had to give her a refresher course. It worked and away she went.
  
After Julie returned to the boat, we rode around until nearly 5 PM. Then we pulled the boat out of the lake, covered it up and towed it back to the farm. After backing it in the pole barn, we went to the house and had supper around 7 PM. People drifted to the bedrooms beginning around 8:30 PM.
It wasn't a perfect day, the water was a little chilly, but the air temperature was 87 degrees most of the time we were on the water and we all enjoyed our first trip of the season.

Posted by Dave at 11:00 PM
Categories: Boating, Current Events, Farm


Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Hay Cut

When Stacey and I returned to the farm after the Events Committee meeting we noticed that Phil and Steve Garmon were cutting the hay in the fields across from the house.
  
The spring weather had started early and the hay had been growing fairly well, so they decided to cut it before it was too tall and began laying over. When Linda came home from working at the school we took Daisy for a run. Daisy has been acting badly by not coming back to the Mule when we are ready to return her to the barn. Brent helped us get her back in the Mule on Sunday after her acting up. Today, she wouldn't stop trying to catch fish in the creek. When we drove the Mule closer to her, she just moved on down the creek. She ran back and forth across the road a couple of times, then up the hill behind the house. She was spastic, running all over the hillside and finally down by the back porch. Linda was able to get close enough to Daisy to get her attention, then Daisy ran to the Mule and jumped in the back. We put her in the barn and parked the Mule. All of this took about a half hour. We've tried giving her treats when she comes back, but that doesn't work to get her to come back. I'm thinking a shock collar maybe the only thing that might work.
☺ Update: Stacey and I took Daisy for a run on Thursday morning and she was back to normal. She ran and stayed fairly close to the Mule, played in the creek when we were close to the water, then ran with the Mule while we were back in the 'holler'. At the right time, she hopped in the back of the Mule like she was supposed to do.☺

Posted by Dave at 6:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


Posted on Monday, May 14, 2012

Mother's Day In IN

We left the farm a little after 8 AM Saturday and drove towards Daleville, IN. Linda called her Mom and she had already ate lunch, so we went on towards Daleville. We stopped in Anderson and ate at Gene's Hot Dog stand. The place was packed, with every parking spot filled. The hot dogs and root beer all tasted great. After eating, we unloaded the HHR and put Coco in the cage at my Mom's house in Daleville.
  
We then went to Pendleton and visited with Nana. Linda gave her a potted flower for Mother's Day. Reba had a new dog that was named Reese. The dog was well behaved and about a year and a half old. We played with her and talked, then Linda K and Imon arrived. I took a few pictures of the dog and Nana wanted some printed, so I went to the drug store and made a few prints for her to have.
  
We left a little before dark and filled up with gas, then called Pizza King in Chesterfield for a take out order. We picked it up on the way back to Daleville and ate it at my Mom's house.
Sunday morning, we headed to Muncie and stopped on the way to pick up some flowers, cupcakes and a Mother's Day card for my Mom. We went inside at the Woodlands Nursing Home and saw Virginia sitting with her jacket on and her hood tied. She had been outside smoking and hadn't taken her coat off, I guess?
  
We got Mom to take off her coat and stay awhile. I gave Mom her card and we talked and had a good visit. Stacey gave Mom the cupcakes and Linda gave her a potted miniature rose bush. We stayed over 2 hours and when Mom ran out of things to talk about and was getting tired, we said good bye, gave her hugs and left. We stopped for lunch, then went to visit Lana and Frank Dial. We found them in their front yard doing some work. We talked with them for a while and checked out the new boat that they had bought a week or so earlier. We made plans to get together at Dale Hollow later in the summer and then we headed out. Stacey watched the Pacer game on TV while we took a break. After the game was over, we went to Jessica and Jeff Summer's house near Markleville. She gave us a tour through their house and showed us their animals. They have chickens, ducks and two horses. There are several dogs too. Airianna and Trevon were also hanging around as we talked with Jessica and Jeff. We made one more stop while we were in Markleville at Jessica's Mom's house. Anita had been working outside planting a small garden when we arrived. She was surprised to see us. We talked with her for a half hour, then headed back to Daleville for the night.
  
Monday morning, Linda baked a package of cinnamon rolls and then we loaded the HHR and headed back towards Burkesville. We stopped at Kingfish in Jeffersonville for lunch.
  
The traffic was light and the trip went quickly. We made it home by 1:30 PM. We rested a little while, then rode around to see what the weather had done while we were gone. I guess we had quite a bit of rain, but by going to IN we had missed it all.

Posted by Dave at 7:30 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Saturday, May 19, 2012

Lillydale On Dale Hollow

Pauline and Brent with Julie and Kyle arrived Friday afternoon. Saturday morning we prepared for a trip to the lake. This time, instead of fixing breakfast, we went into Burkesville and ate at a pancake breakfast. The pancakes were ready along with sausage patties as soon as we walked into the church basement. It didn't take long and we left the church and were on our way to the State Park. I drove the boat off the trailer and Brent parked the truck and trailer. Pauline put the life jackets on the kids and Linda and I put the bimini top up while Stacey put away our billfolds and keys. Brent walked down the ramp and I pulled the boat close to the dock for him to step in, we were then on our way. We rode around enjoying the beautiful day, then stopped and let those that wanted take a dip in the cool water. A little past noon, we rode over to Lillydale campground to meet Stephannie and Kent. We found Steph and Jackson playing in the water at the beach. Kent returned a few minutes later. Linda asked them to go for a ride with us and they accepted, so we pulled over close to the shore and let them climb in the back of the boat.

We took them riding around the lake for little over an hour, to Star Point, Pusley Creek, past the State Park and near Eagle's Cove. Then we returned to Lillydale and dropped them off by their camp site. After saying so long, we boated out into the middle of the lake and just drifted for little bit. We ate our sandwiches and played in the water.
  
When it looked like the kids had enough sun, we decided to end the day. There was no hurry as we took a slow ride back to the dock with Stacey driving the boat. Brent retrieved the truck and trailer and I drove the boat onto the trailer. We tied the cover onto the boat and drove back to the farm. After parking the boat and truck in the barn, we went to the house and took a break while watching a recording of the Preakness horse race. Linda fixed us a pizza and enchiladas later.

Posted by Dave at 6:00 PM
Categories:


Posted on Sunday, May 27, 2012

Memorial Weekend

Brent had a plan for boating on Saturday. His plan was to leave the house early and get on the lake before it was too crowded. Stacey cooked sausage biscuits for us as we packed coolers, put suntan lotion on and the various other things we had to do before going to the lake. We quickly ate and were on our way. I pulled the boat to the gas station and filled the tank while Brent took the coolers and filled them with ice. The lower parking lot at the State Park was already filled with tow vehicles and boat trailers when we arrived and unloaded the boat. Brent drove the truck and trailer to an upper parking lot while I kept the boat floating in the middle of the ramp area. Pauline picked Brent up in their HHR and returned to park in the lower lot to avoid a long walk for Brent. I pulled the boat to the courtesy dock and picked up Pauline and Brent, then we left the dock area at 8:44 AM. The lake was still calm and smooth. I drove the boat into our favorite cove and we anchored, then everyone swam for a long time. A little before lunch time, other boats started pulling in and anchoring near us, so we pulled up the anchor and went for a ride. We stopped at another quiet spot and ate lunch and swam until we were invaded again. Each time we would move to try to find a secluded place on the lake, just to see if we could. That is one of the nicest things about Dale Hollow Lake, it has hundreds of fingerlets where you can get away from others. People weren't really getting that close to us, it was just a reason to move along to a new spot. We moved two more times during the day, lounging and swimming at every stop. The lake was getting a little rough out in the middle with the boat traffic near the end of the day. Julie and Kyle were having fun riding in the storage areas on the sides of the boat. When everyone had enough sun and boating, we ate the rest of our sandwiches and took a slow ride back to the State Park Dock just before 5 PM.
  
  
  
 
After parking the boat in the barn, we went to the house and Linda fixed a late supper. We watched a little TV, then went to bed.
Sunday morning, people were slow to get up. Kyle and I took an early Mule ride to keep him quiet while Pauline cooked breakfast. I noticed that Larry Anderson had rolled half of the hay down the road and across the creek. Brent helped Linda power wash the back porch before they left about 1:30 PM

Posted by Dave at 3:00 PM
Categories: Boating, Current Events, Farm


Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Hay Cut & Rolled

All of the hay fields have been cut, raked and rolled.
 
I spent some time bush hogging around the edges of the fields while Stacey let Daisy run along with the Mule.

Posted by Dave at 7:00 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm